Picker check assembly for looms



Aug. 7, 1962 A. .1. ARCAND 3,043,196

PICKER CHECK ASSEMBLY FOR LOOMS Filed Aug. 17, 1960' T W ""II u=|e.2 /5 ,4

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ADELARD ARCAND BY IFIG.4I

United States Patent Ofifice 3,048,196 Patented Aug. 7,, 1952 poration of Massachusetts Filed Aug. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 50,178 11 Claims. (Cl. 139-165) This invention pertains to textile apparatus, particularly to an improved picker check assembly for weaving looms. More specifically, the invention relates to that type of picker check wherein an elongate guide rod, fixed to a bracket depending from the loom lay, passes through holes in a looped leather strap, which receives the blow of the picker stick and which, in response to said blow, friction-ally resists motion along said rod.

In checks of this general type, the strap loop also passes between elements of a friction device fixed to the lay of the loom, at the opposite side of the picker path from said rod, so that motion of the strap is frictionally opposed at both sides of the picker path. When the strap is struck by the picker stick the strap loop elongates and slides between the elements of the friction device, at one side of the picker path, and along the rod at the other side of the picker path. At the extreme limit of its motion the strap of the customary prior check may encounter the bracket which supports the, rod, and repeated contacts with this bracket tend rapidly to wear and weaken the strap. It has been proposed to reinforce the strap against such wear by thickening the strap at those portions at which it may contact the bracket, as by making the strap of two or more thicknesses throughout, or by adding one or more lengths of strap material to the strap proper at its opposite end portions. However, since the picker stick oscillates about a fulcrum point below the location of the strap, the picker stick, when at its limits of motion, inclines outwardly, away from the vertical plane of its fulcrum, and in order that the picker stick may contact the check strap throughout the entire vertical width of the latter (thereby to avoid concentration of the blow upon a narrow limited area or edge of the strap) it is desirable that the strap be quite flexible so that when struck by the picker stick it may readily take the form of a frustum of a hollow coneso as to present a substantial portion of its width for contact by the stick. Thickening the strap at its end portions, as by the addition of extra layers, has the effect of stilfening the strap and thus reducing its ability to deform in response to the blow of the picker stick.

The present invention has for an object the provision of a novel picker check assembly wherein those portions of the strap which are encountered by the picker stick are of a single thickness so as to be of maximum flexibility and thus capable of conforming to the picker stick at the time when contacted by the latter, but wherein adequate provision is made for protecting the strap from direct encounter-with the bracket which supports the rod, thus greatly prolonging the life of the strap without sacrificing the desired flexibility. A further object is to provide a picker check assembly having provision at opposite sides of the picker stick path for frictionally retarding motion of the strap in response to the picker stick blow and wherein one of the friction means for retarding motion of the strap is a rod fixed relatively to the loom lay and which passes through aligned openings in the strap, and wherein the rod is rectilinear and devoid of any stop elements at its opposite ends, thus facilitating the application of a new strap when it becomes necessary to replace the strap, but with provisions for positively limiting motion of the strap along the rod while in use.

A further object is to provide a picker check assembly of the above type wherein there is associated with the bracket which supports the rod, a cushioning element which serves to limit motion of the strap longitudinally of the rod and which, at the same time, resiliently opposes motion of the strap and prevents direct contact of the strap proper with said bracket. A further object is to provide a picker check assembly of the above type wherein there is provided a cushioning element, associated with the bracket supporting the rod, and which comprises a second length of strap material bent to an arc and with openings at opposite sides of the bracket through which the rod passes, and which presents a smoothly arcuate outer surface for contact with the strap proper. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view of the improved picker check assembly showing the lower surfaces of the brackets, at opposite sides of the picker stick path, which support the frictional retarding devices of the assembly, the picker stick being indicated in broken lines, the assembly being shown in inverted position to avoid obscuration of the strap and cushioning device by the brackets;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the same parts as FIG. 1, also in inverted position, and looking from the side of the strap at which the ends of the strap are united;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section at the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation, omitting the check strap, proper, and showing only the cushioning element and the friction rod through which the check strap passes.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a bracket (shown inverted) which, in use, is secured to the lay of the loom by means comprising a bolt 11 and which has a fixed friction finger 12 which engages the inner side of the check strap S, while an adjustable finger 13, also carried by the bracket 10, engages the outer surface of the check strap. The bracket 10 is located at one side of the path of the picker stick, the latter being indicated in broken lines at P, while a second bracket 14, also carried by the loom lay, is arranged at the opposite side of the picker stick path, this latter bracket being attached to the lay by bolts 15 and 16. This bracket comprises the member 17, constituting one element of a clamp whose complemental member 18 is connected to the part 17 by a bolt and nut 19, the parts 17 and 18 being operative to hold, in clamped relation between them, the horizontal rigid rod 20. This rod, as here illustrated, is a simple piece of round steel rod, rectilinear and devoid of any screw threads or enlargements of any kind at or near its opposite ends, so that it may readily be threaded through openings, but little larger than the rod, in the strap S. It is thus possible, as hereafter more fully described, without removing the rod from the supporting bracket, to thread its opposite ends through holes in the check strap S and without necessitating the provision of holes in the strap of a size too large to defeat the purpose of the rod.

In accordance with the present invention, a cushioning element C is so arranged as partially to embrace the clamp comprising members 17 and 18, this cushioning element preferably being of a length of leather strap similar to the strap S of a width, for example, of the order of two inches and having holes near its opposite ends through which the opposite end portions, respectively, of the rod 20 pass. The distance between these holes in the cushioning element C is such that when it is in operative position, an shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it isbent to arcuate form, thus presenting a smoothly curved outer surface 21 toward the check strap S.

In assembling the parts, and before the rod 20 is mounted between the clamping elements 17 and 18, it is passed through the openings in the cushioning element side of the picker stick path, a simple rectilinear length of rigid rod, parallel to the picker stick path, of uniform diameter from end-to-end and centrally supported on a bracket carried by the loom lay, has its opposite end portions, respectively, passing through openings in the check strap spaced from and located at opposite sides, respectively, of said uniting means, in combination, means located wholly within said strap loom operative to prevent contact of the strap with the aforesaid bracket, the length of the strap being such as to prevent its escape from one end or the other of the rod, in response to motion of the strap by the blow of the picker stick.

9. The combination according to claim 8, wherein the means for preventing contact of the loop with the rodsupporting bracket comprises a part located within the strap loop and fixed relatively to said bracket and which presents a convex, arcuate, outer surface for contact with that part of the inner surface of the cheek strap which extends from one of said openings to the other.

10. In a picker check assembly of the kind wherein a check strap has its ends directly joined by connecting means to form a loop so arranged that the picker stick contacts the inner surface of the strap at opposite porlllOIlS, respectively, as the picker sticik oscillates and wherein the motion of the strap, in response to the blows of the picker stick, is frictionally resisted by means located at opposite sides, respectively, of the picker stick path, the means at one side of said path comprising a single length of rectilinear rod of uniform diameter from endto-end, the mi'dportion of the rod being fixed to a bracket carried by the loom lay, the strap having holes spaced, respectively, from said connecting means through which those portions, respectively, of the rod which are located at opposite sides of the supporting bracket pass at an angle such as frictionally to resist motion of the strap along the rod, in combination, an auxiliary strap of the same material as the check strap and which is fixed relatively to the bracket which supports the rod, .sa-id strap being of arcuate curvature with its concavity directed toward the picker stick path and so as partially to embrace the bracket which supports the rod, said auxiliary strap presenting a convex surface toward the means which connects the ends of the check strap and thereby guarding the connected ends of the strap from direct contact with the bracket which supports the rod.

11. In combination with a loom having a picker stick which oscillates in a vertical plane about a fixed axis adjacent to its lower end, a check strap having its ends united, one to the other, by connecting means to form a loop which embraces the free end portion of the picker stick and which is operative to limit motion of said end of the picker stick in either direction, said strap being of uniform width and of a material so thin and flexible that, when struck by the picker stick, that portion of the strap which receives the blow takes the form of a frustum of a hollow cone so as to provide a substantial portion of its width for contact with the stick, said strap having openings therein spaced equally from its united ends, both of said openings being located at the same side of the path of motion of the picker stick, a friction member consisting of a simple length of rectilinear rigid rod of uniform diameter from end-to-end which passes through both openings in the strap, a bracket fixed to the lay of the loom to which the midportion of said rod is secured in such a way that the rod is horizontal and parallel to the plane of motion of the picker stick, and resilient means located wholly within the loop formed by the strap operative to prevent contact of the strap with said bracket, the strap being of such length that it cannot escape from eiher end of the rod in response to elongation of the strap loom by the flow of the picker stick.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,521,893 Bridges Sept. 12, 1950 2,666,455 Gravitt Jan. 19, 1954 2,855,004 Shivell Oct. 7, 1958 2,920,660 McClamroch Ian. 12, 1960 2,936,794 Shivell et a1. May 17, 1960 

